Eliana Willis

SJVN / Elyse Betters Picaro / ZDNETMany programmers are young enough that they never knew a world without Git and the developer sites built around it, like GitHub and GitLab. You should be glad, very glad, that Linus Torvalds felt forced to create a better version control system (VCS).Before that, I used first-generation Source Control Management (SCM) systems such as Revision Control System (RCS), which was… painful. Then along came the Concurrent Versions System (CVS) in 1986, and then Subversion (SVN) in 2000. That same year saw BitKeeper, the once open-source VCS that was Linux’s first SCM. Also: Microsoft at 50: Its incredible rise, 15 lost years, and stunning comeback – in 4 chartsBefore that, Torvalds had been content to keep Linux’s code straight by hand. But, by 1999, as developer Larry McVoy observed, Torvalds was on the verge of burning out. The problem? You couldn’t scale Torvalds. He needed the right tools to share the load. McVoy thought the answer was his own SCM program, BitKeeper. Torvalds wasn’t so sure. He wanted to keep doing it the way he’d always done it.The BitKeeper dilemmaFast forward to 2003, and it was another story. The Linux 2.4 kernel had been late, very late, in shipping, and the 2.6 release was going even slower. So, Torvalds finally moved to BitKeeper. At first, it worked great, but the fly in the ointment was always that BitKeeper was a proprietary program. True, there was a free version of BitKeeper that could only be used with open-source projects, but it came with significant problems. As Linux kernel developer and editor of the Linux Weekly News (LWN), Jonathan Corbet observed at the time, “Larry wanted to have his cake and eat it too. He truly wanted to support the development of free software — as long as that software didn’t threaten his own particular business niche. … Whenever BitMover [McVoy’s company] felt that its business model was threatened,” it changed its licensing terms ” to the point that the BitKeeper license became known in some circles as the ‘don’t piss off Larry license.'” Also: How to start using the new Linux terminal on your Android deviceAs Bryan Cantrill, a well-known developer, and Oxide Computer CTO, commented years later on Ycombinator, “The grand irony is that Larry was one of the earliest advocates of open sourcing the operating system at Sun … So on the one hand, you can view the story of BitKeeper with respect to open source as almost Greek in its tragic scope.”In 2005, Andrew Tridgell, a Linux kernel developer, attempted to reverse-engineer BitKeeper’s protocols to create an open-source BitKeeper client. That was what broke the camel’s back for McVoy, who subsequently pulled BitKeeper’s free version. Torvalds didn’t feel, however, that it was fair to blame McVoy for the break. In a Linux Kernel Mailing List (LKM) post, he wrote, “Don’t blame BitMover, even if that’s probably going to be a very common reaction. Larry, in particular, really did try to make things work out, but it got to the point where I decided that I don’t want to be in the position of trying to hold two pieces together that would need as much glue as it seemed to require.” Regardless of who gets the blame, Linux was left without an SCM. What to do? The creation of GitTorvalds’s answer was to create a true open-source VCS alternative: Git. In a mere 10 days, he developed a working version of Git, which was first committed on April 7, 2005. Of course, he’d been thinking about it for a while. The BitKeeper conflict had been brewing almost since the start. In a recent GitHub interview, Torvalds said he had been facing the question, “How do I do something that works even better than BitKeeper does but doesn’t do it the way BitKeeper does it?” Also: Linux Foundation’s trust scorecards aim to battle rising open-source security threatsAs Torvalds told me then, he didn’t want to change software configuration management tools; however, he had no choice but to abandon BitKeeper and create his own system. “The name itself really doesn’t have a meaning. Torvalds joked that it could be a “random three-letter combination that is pronounceable and not actually used by any common Unix command. The fact that it is a mispronunciation of get may or may not be relevant.” Or “stupid. contemptible and despicable. Simple. Take your pick from the dictionary of slang.” Or, “global information tracker: [if] you’re in a good mood, and it actually works for you. Angels sing, and a light suddenly fills the room.” Angels or not, Torvalds wasn’t sure at the time that Git would be the permanent replacement. “It’s a young project, and it just takes time for things to mature. That will go on for years, assuming none of the other open-source SCMs just eventually show themselves to be capable enough that we just end up deciding that Git was a good temporary bridge.” More

Westend61/Getty Images Every time I get a press release about AI agents, I get a slightly queasy feeling. It is not quite as bad as that dizzy feeling I get every time someone insists on pitching me about vibe coding, nor is it the nails on a chalkboard feeling I get every time a PR […] More

<!–> ZDNET’s key takeaways The Google Pixel 9a is the latest midrange phone from the company and retails for $499. It features a new Tensor G4 chip, helpful AI tools, an improved main camera, and the largest battery of any Pixel. You’ll have to settle for some budget trade-offs, including the lack of a telephoto […] More

Kerry Wan/ZDNETA new PC or Mac is a major purchase. Buying a high-quality device that’s built to perform well and last for years can easily cost you $1,500 or more. How much more? Well, Microsoft’s most expensive business laptop costs roughly $3,000, and a fully loaded MacBook Pro tops out at a cool $4,000.But you don’t have to pay those sticker prices. With a little preparation and some patience, you can save up to 50% off those high price tags without sacrificing quality. That’s especially important these days, because PCs and Macs are typically made in China and are subject to supply chain disruptions and tariffs that can make pricing uncertain, to say the least. Also: If you’re planning to upgrade your phone, you might want to buy one now – here’s whyOver the years, I’ve bought dozens of PCs and have learned a few tricks that I share in this article. I’m partial to Dell PCs and Surface devices, and I always have at least one Mac in my office, but the information here should apply to any vendor.1. Do your homework earlyIf you wait until your old PC or Mac is dead or dying, your money-saving options are limited. Your selection (and price) will be whatever is available to fill the empty space on your desktop where that defunct device used to sit.A better strategy? Give yourself a few months to do some research while your aging PC is still useful. That gives you time to check specs and read reviews so you can assemble a short list of devices you might want to buy as a replacement. Armed with that short list, you can then begin watching prices to see when deals appear.Also: How to upgrade an ‘incompatible’ Windows 10 PC to Windows 11Apple rarely marks its merchandise down, but you can occasionally get a discount from a third-party seller. The AppleInsider Price Guides are a good resource for tracking those bargains.If you’re looking for a Windows PC, on the other hand, you have a much better chance of finding discounts on all but the newest, most supply-constrained devices. Resellers, including the Microsoft Store Online More

<!–> ZDNET’s key takeaways The Oukitel WP200 Pro is currently available for $599 on the company’s website and will soon be sold via Amazon. A detachable Bluetooth earpiece with a touch screen that also attaches to a watchband makes this phone incredibly fun. The WP200 Pro is very heavy. –> Oukitel has produced some of […] More

<!–> ZDNET’s key takeaways The Sony Ult Field 3 speaker is a mid-range powerhouse with great sound and ample bass. With a 24-hour battery life and features that encourage speaker syncing, the Ult Field 3 would be perfect for regular hosts and music lovers. I can’t think of anything wrong with this incredible speaker, and […] More

Apple / Elyse Betters Picaro / ZDNET”May you live in interesting times” is a phrase often attributed as a Chinese curse. In reality, the phrase can be traced back to Hughe Knatchbull-Hugessen, who was the British ambassador to China in 1936. In his 1949 book, Diplomat in Peace and War, he attributes the phrase to something a friend told him. The friend apparently told him of the so-called Chinese curse before Ambassador Knatchbull-Hugessen took his posting in China.Also: Worried about a $2,300 iPhone? How US tariffs are causing tech buyers to scrambleThe irony of the phrase, of course, is that “interesting times” sounds like a nice thing to say, but it could be interpreted as a dark way of wishing someone to live in times of trouble and unrest. We, dear reader, are living in interesting times. The tariff unknownsAs you are undoubtedly aware, tariffs are at the top of the economic news. My wife and I have run our small businesses together for a very long time, through a number of recessions and periods of economic unrest. I even wrote a book, The Flexible Enterprise, which talked about how to run a business that is responsive and agile, particularly in response to economic forces. Also: Why I returned to the Apple Watch after a four-year hiatusWhile we have been tracking the tariffs issue fairly closely, the news that China is being hit with 125% tariffs was at the top of today’s planning meeting agenda. Tariffs applied to other countries were also of concern because we do not know how vendors will respond to these sweeping economic changes. We also do not know how long the tariffs will last or whether there will be lasting price increases even if they are withdrawn. (Update: Since publishing, the US has announced a 90-day pause on tariffs, lowering rates for some countries to 10% and raising China from 104% to 125%.)I purchase a lot of robotic motion control equipment from Turkey-based vendor Edelkrone. Turkey was only hit with 10% tariffs, but Edelkrone’s response has been to eat those costs so it does not pass the added rates on to its customers. From a consumer point of view, this is great, but I worry about the company. It is a small company with a very niche product and a high cost of goods, and it is unclear how long it can withstand a hit to its margins like this.Also: Why Temu’s bargain prices are about to hit a tariff wallAnd then we get to Apple. Apple produces its gear in many countries. The Mac Studio, which is my main production machine, may be produced in Malaysia, but many of the components, and rare earth minerals, come from China. Malaysian goods have been hit by 24% tariffs while, as I said, China’s rate is now 104%.Mission-critical machineMy M1 Max-based Mac Studio has started feeling its age. I have been experiencing slow-downs during video production and 3D modeling, and last month when I tried to modify a complex model to prepare it for 3D printing, the machine slowed down to an unusable crawl.Even so, last month when Apple introduced the new M4 Mac Studio, I said I was going to wait. I wanted to see how the year turned out financially for my small business before plunking down $5,300 for an upgrade.Also: I spent $4K on my Mac Studio 3 years ago – should I upgrade to the 2025 model?But then, there are the tariffs.My wife and I discussed this. We know that I need a new machine. Let us be clear. This is not a hobby or an optional purchase. I make the bulk of my living through my main desktop machine. Yes, I have a bunch of other machines, including some Windows machines and Linux boxes, but my day-to-day production income is produced using that machine. It is a mission-critical device. I initially wanted to delay an upgrade because $5,300 is a lot of money, and I thought I could limp by for another six months or so. That strategy made sense before the imposition of the new tariffs. What would happen if I waited to upgrade?Here is the question we discussed at length. If I wait to buy an upgrade, will that $5,300 machine cost me nearly $11,000? Also: Are tariffs about to make your next iPhone way more expensive? It’s complicatedThe jurisdictional basis for Mac Studio tariffs is not clear. The M1 Mac Studio is made in Malaysia, but the shipping tracking information for my machine said the unit I ordered back in 2022 was shipped from China. Some other users have reported that their Mac Studios ship from China if the configuration ordered is not the base configuration. My Mac Studio is far from a base configuration, so there is a good chance the new one will also be assembled in China. This level of uncertainty is troubling. For my own decision, I had to factor in that while I do not want to spend $5,300 now, it is a necessary business expense. For the economy as a whole, uncertainty is a key component that fosters recession, and the more uncertain we all are, the more the economy will likely contract.While $5,300 is a stretch financially, double that would be an unreachable expense. Even if the tariffs were calculated based on Malaysian tariff surcharges, the new machine would cost me north of $6,500. More

Samsung Samsung just announced three new gaming monitors to join its impressive lineup, and they come with a sweet deal: a $300 gift card from Best Buy if you pre-order now.  If you’ve been looking for a new gaming monitor, Samsung’s got you covered with two new models and a refresh of its 49-inch curved […] More